Saturday, April 22, 2017

Day 4: From Timna to Shaharut - 16th April, 2017

After spending 3 nights in Timna park with the family, we drove home on Saturday, then I flew back to Eilat on Saturday night, got a taxi to the entrance of the Timna park, and spent the night at the Nahal Mangan (Nahal Sasgon) camp, ready to start nice and early on the Sunday. It was good to be back on the trail!

Today and day 5 are this part of the trail: http://www.shvilist.com/k40.html (in reverse)

I only realised when I got home that the time-stamp had accidentally been turned on (the actual time was an hour earlier . . . )

The Nahal Mangan campsite - packed up and ready to leave

There was still a little water left after the flooding a few days earlier

The moon accompanied be throughout the first morning

There were some beautiful / amazing rocks throughout the day

I was surprised to still find some flowers

Some more of the interesting rocks around

These round rocks are known as bulbous rocks, their round shape is a result of geological processes

Israel trail markers at the entrance to Shaharut

I managed the main climb of the day (Ma'ale Milhan) relatively early in the morning. As the day went on, it got very hot, and there was almost no shade at all, so I took breaks whenever I could find anything. Shortly after Be'er Milhan (Milhan spring), I came across a group of Russian-Israelis who were resting under (one of the very few) trees. They invited me for some tea and shared their food which was just what I needed (and delicious!) - picked olives and onions, halva, nuts and dates. They also gave me advice for the next day - to take a detour from the Israel trail (which goes along the road for most of the day), and instead follow the bike path, advice which I ended up taking.

During my breaks, I was reading David Rosenbaum's new book on hands:

I made it to Shaharut at a reasonable hour, and spent the night at the "Camel riders camp" (although I did not see any camels :)